New eparch of Parma is ‘gift from the Slovak church,’ says bishop

PARMA, Ohio — The new bishop of Parma is a “gift from the Slovak church,” said the bishop of the second-largest Byzantine Catholic eparchy of Slovakia.

Bishop Milan Chautur, CSsR, of Kosice was one of three European Ruthenian bishops to concelebrate the Divine Liturgy of Enthronement for Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist June 30.

The 60-year-old prelate told Horizons Bishop Lach’s appointment to Parma is of great significance for the Slovak Greek Catholic Church.

“After the fall of communism, we immediately turned to the Greek Catholic Church in America for material needs, to build churches again. We were liquidated for 18 years,” he said.

But now, with the Slovak Greek Catholic Church strongly re-established, there may be an opportunity to return the favor, he said.

“We sense that, compared with us, there is a certain crisis of vocations and in the spiritual life. It is everywhere, but you feel it here in the U.S.,” he said.

“So, just as we received material gifts after the fall of communism, now we can repay with spiritual gifts,” he said.

“I wish for all the faithful here to understand the efforts of the church, to be open to the new bishop and to receive him as a gift from the Slovak church,” he said. “In the person of Bishop Milan, understanding will come and there will be a stronger connection with the roots but the firm foundation for new growth.”

Bishop Chautur said it was important for him to attend the enthronement for three reasons.

“I have realized that the connection between the Greek Catholic Church in the United States and Europe has to remain,” he said.

“There are people who came 10 years ago or 100 years ago, and they still carry within them the Gospel they received from their forefathers,” he said. It is important “to emphasize the fact that faith is received from our forefathers, because when we cut off the roots, life is ended.”

Bishop Chautur said he also wanted to speak about “the beautiful work Bishop Milan has already done in Slovakia.”

“The faithful in America need to know that he has already worked as a bishop really beautifully and fruitfully in Slovakia. He is not newly ordained, but has already proven himself by entering into (social debates) on a larger scale in Slovak society,” he said. “I know what he can offer the church, and it was important for me to say that to America.”

Bishop Chautur said he was also motivated to make the overseas trip because Bishop Lach “is one of mine. I ordained him a deacon and a priest, and I want to support him as he enters here in this position and be available to him to help him out.”

He recalled a time when the U.S. church was considered “greater” than the Slovak church. “You had a metropolia, we did not,” he said.

Furthermore, American Greek Catholics, for a long time, held the perceptions of the poor “old country” of the first-wave Slovak immigrants to the United States, he said.

“All of that is long past. Now we see that we have to connect once again, both spiritually but also personally,” he said.

Bishop Chautur acknowledged the mission of the Byzantine Catholic Church in the United States of ministering within its context and of being open to the diversity in American society.

“It is important to understand the roots (of the church), but it has to be open to everybody, all races. Everyone is welcome,” he said. “The church has to fulfill its missionary vocation.”

The Early Christians “didn’t stay in the ethnic ghetto, but they went to the whole world,” he said. “It is good to understand where we come from, but to spring up new offshoots. This was the foundation we have received, and now we need to build a new church, with new growth, open to everyone.”

“I wish lots of blessings for this church (of Parma) with the protection of the Virgin Mary, and I offer my prayers, as well,” he said.